In June, 1998, I used a Radio Shack tape recorder to capture the sounds of people talking and laughing at a liquor store and bar somewhere in Florida. This was part of my Soundcrap series, which I should probably rename. Most of it is not so much crap as detritus or, more charitably, from the “Overheard” genre.
I don’t know if the recordings from the Florida liquor store and bar were my first attempt at capturing the sounds of such places but it has always been among my favorites. In one of those recordings someone tells a joke I have retold many times:
Q: What do you get when you cross Viagra and Rogaine?
A: Don King.
Most of my other attempts at recording the sounds of places like restaurants and bars have failed on account of the places being too loud, too noisy, or just too confusing in their soundscape. Still, I have hours upon hours of such recordings as yet unheard. Maybe more gems await.
This sound is from July, 2010, at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria. Using a professional grade field recorder and an ultra sensitive nature microphone I was able to capture what might be a little too much detail. The sounds of the nearby above ground subway trains rolling by intrude on the music here or there, though you might not notice that without headphones.
It was at this visit to the Beer Garden that I captured this evocative photo. I have been offered money for this photo but I refused, thinking it uncool and even unwise to cash in on the likeness of an unwitting stranger.
Portrait. Bohemian Beer Garden.
